Four face jail for fake marriage scam

Four members of a solicitors’ firm face jail for a £20 million fake marriage scam rumbled by Cambridge officials.

More than 1,000 men from outside the European Union – including members of the Albanian mafia – were allowed to stay in Britain after having sham weddings with women who were flown in from eastern European countries.

Many of the ceremonies took place in Cambridge under the nose of the authorities between 2004 and last year, involving couples who had never met before and sometimes did not even speak a common language.

But a trial heard officials in Cambridge finally rumbled the fiddle when they became suspicious that so many people from London were getting married in the city.

Souleiman, from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, and Guclu, from Enfield, north London, were also found guilty at the Old Bailey of receiving proceeds of crime.

Kosimov, from Wembley, north west London, who was tried in his absence, was also convicted of money laundering. He is thought to have fled to his native Uzbekistan.

Another of the firm's immigration advisers, Zafer Altinbas, 38, of Islington, north London, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to breach immigration law and receiving money from the proceeds of crime as the trial started.

The trial heard men would pay up to £14,000 to Souleiman GA Solicitors, in north London, for a marriage package.

This would include fake tenancy agreements, employer's references and forged documents.

And to convince officials that their marriages were genuine, there would also be a Mills and Boon-type love story scripted for them.

Fixer Kosimov would pay for women to fly in from countries such as Lithuania and be housed in a tower block in east London.

Only a fraction of the money would be paid into the firm's accounts, the rest of the cash was used to prop up their lifestyles.

A vast proportion, the police believe, was smuggled out to Northern Cyprus.

Of the weddings which police had firm evidence to prosecute on, about one in 10 took place in Cambridge.

Nicholas Mather, prosecuting, said the marriages were going ahead despite the regular use of same addresses and a number of errors on applications.

He said: "They made a sizeable amount of money. The arrangement of these marriages was a lucrative business.

"Whatever may be recorded in the books, substantial sums were being paid to individuals to arrange these marriages. This was a cash business."

Souleiman and Guclu were remanded in custody to be sentenced with the others on Monday.

Cllr Steve Tierney, the county council’s cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: “I am proud that the council has played its part in helping colleagues in the police crack down on sham marriages.

“Staff are trained and have a legal duty to look out for suspicious signs and in this case help raise the alarm.

“We would hope this acts as a warning to others who think they will get away with a sham marriage.

“We take our duty in regards to the institution of marriage seriously and will remain vigilant at all times against those who would abuse it.”

Earlier this month a wedding at Cambridge Register Office was dramatically halted when immigration officials arrested the groom-to-be.

He was a 31-year-old Egyptian who had overstayed his leave to remain in the UK.